Doctors Lounge - Endocrinology Answers

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Hi, I'm a 41 year old female with no major illnesses/diagnoses to speak of, about 20 pounds overweight, and pretty sedentary at this time. For the past month or so, I have had a hard, nonmoving, slightly tender lymph node under my ear, along with a feeling of pressure in that ear (left)--the ear pressure was first. Originally, I thought it was from cell phone use as I noticed the ear pressure a lot more after being on the phone. My doc looked at my ear and could see no signs of infection at all. The last few days, the pressure has expanded to be kind of my left upper quarter, including the back of my shoulder, left arm feeling kind of weird, getting tingly easily. Also, there seems to be pressure and slight swelling/tenderness (not noticeable swelling to others) just under my left clavicle spreading across that side of my chest (are there lymph nodes there as well?) I have not had any other signs of infection/fever at all. Do these symptoms match anything that you know of? I have not been able to find information as to what could be going on, and i'm wondering, if my doc doens't think it's anything to worry about, should I make an appt. with an endocrinologist? I should also mention that my mother died two years ago of adenocarcinoma of unknown primary--first noticed by swollen lymph node in her groin, it totally took over her lymph system.
Thanks for any info you might have!

(the only other odd symptom i've been having is having radial nerve pain in my right arm that has been progressing for about 6 months--seems totally unrelated but thought i'd mention it)

The seriousness of your symptoms are impossible to assess without clinical examination. To answer your question regarding the presence of lymph nodes under the clavical. The answer is yes, they are called the infraclavicaular lymph nodes.

I would also suggest that you mention the radial nerve pain to your doctor since it could be significant.

No an endocrinologist would not be your best bet. I think an oncologist would be able to address this issue.

Thanks for your response and information. I'll check into how to get in to see an oncologist--i'm pretty nervous!

Regarding the infraclavicular lymph nodes...if they are tender or swollen (I can't feel any nodes, just under the skin in that area feels tender and slightly puffy), what is that usually a symtom of? I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere relative to cancer (or anything else for that matter).

Also, I did have thermographic pictures taken of the whole area and while it did show some redness, there were no "hot spots", which usually can indicate cancer...unless this could be metastisized cancer?